Friday, June 29, 2012

Show me the Money

Money laundering is the art of making it appear that the
proceeds of an illegal activity came from legitimate sources. It is a crime predicated by another crime which is the actual source of the
profits obtained. The drug trade, for example, is the largest source of illicit
income. To legitimize this income, three steps are usually necessary, to wit:
1. Placement (Cash is introduced into the financial system); 2. Layering
(Various transactions are carried out in order to conceal the illicit source);
3. Integration (Profit is acquired from the transactions carried out to hide
the illegal source). In a casino, a money launderer can buy chips, play, and
then cash in his chips for which he will be issued a check which he deposits in
a bank claiming it as casino winnings. Real estate can be bought with illegal
earnings at a manipulated price and then sold, the income from which would
appear to be legitimate. In a typical cash intensive business like a parking
building, a money launderer can easily mix both legally and illegally obtained
profits and claim all of it as legitimate income. The total amount of money
being laundered annually worldwide is estimated to be more than $500 billion.

According to Prof Geoffrey Till, seapower
is larger concept if compared with landpower or airpower as neither encompasses
the geo-economic dimensions of human activity to the extent that seapower does. Contrary to the land-based and air-based
forces, whose size and firepower always have been related to that of their potential
adversaries, maritime-based forces are determined by the quantum of maritime
assets and interests that they have to safeguard. This is the very reason why there is
inseparable link between military and mercantile aspect of seapower. The benefits that we can get out of this are
as follows:

·Maritime trades or finances could be used to
fund maritime (naval) efforts. It means
to say that it is easier for maritime nations to build a strong maritime force
if there is a strong mercantile element on it than just merely building maritime
forces.

·Maritime profits from trades could generate more
resources to maintain ships, ports and harbors, and seamen. These
profits from trades can also use to fund industrial and technological
developments.

·Maritime industrial and technological developments
can be translated into maritime strengths and advantages which in turn can be
translated into specific military advantage or rightly called maritime
supremacy.

These
benefits I just mentioned are simply termed in seapower as the Virtuous
Maritime Cycle - a secret of maritime success.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

In 2010 in Aukland, New Zealand there was a very unusual discovery. A 70 centimeters boa constrictor (a large heavy-bodied species of snake) loaded with yucca trees was found on a vessel that departed from Guatemala. The inspector decided to check inside a container that was leaking water. Once the container doors opened they were in for a surprise, as a snake is not something you see on board a vessel everyday. For sure this must have been one of the most unpleasant moments of that inspector's life. It was later found that the owner had packed the boa in ice, and not indicated on the container or declared in the papers that it contained a live animal.

Not all unusual cargo shipped will be as dangerous as snakes or hazardous chemicals. For example in a recent oil spill incident in the Gulf Region in 2010, more than 25,000 sea turtles eggs were shipped from northern Mexico to the eastern Florida coast in order to protect the wild life.

Another strange thing was transported between 2005 and 2006 from Taipei, Taiwan to Georgia Aquarium in the United States is two female and two male whale sharks. The whale sharks, named Ralph, Norton, Alice and Trixie flew 8000 miles to get their new home, the Geogia Aquarium. Even though the whole project sounds pretty cute and sweet considering the size of these animals the logistics of such move is highly complex. Let's not forget that these are huge animals and this project must require an incredible amount of planning and logistics knowledge. Actually, the whales were not the only species delivered to the acquarium; they also shipped 42 containers holding smaller aquatic animals.

Not only animals are part of unusual shipped cargos, there can also be priceless ancient monuments. Recently 2,200 year old Chinese Terra Cotta Warriors, horses and other artifacts were shipped from Shanghai to four U.S. Museums. The Terra Cotta Warriors will be shipped back to Shanghai once their work is done in the U.S.

The last and the most interesting one is not shipped internationally but it is the most amazing one the space shuttle Discovery was shipped from Florida to Washington to join the collection at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. The Space shuttle was positioned onto the back of an aircraft, which was its last flight to its permanent home in the Smithsonian.

TOKYO--Japan has passed a law that allows the government to provide insurance coverage of up to $7.6 billion

for tankers carrying Iranian crude oil to Japanese ports, said a spokesman with the marine department of the

country's transportation ministry, adding that the law took effect Wednesday 27 June 2012. Japan needed the law so that it could continue to import crude from the Islamic Republic that would otherwise be practically uninsurable given European Union sanctions prohibiting insurance and reinsurance companies from taking business associated with Iranian crude from July 1. Japanese marine insurers use EU-based reinsurers for 80%-90% of the insurance they issue.Japan has been steadily reducing its dependence on Iranian crude as a result of Western sanctions against Tehran. In March, the U.S. granted a formal exemption to Japan from sanctions on buyers of Iranian crude due to Japan's commitment to continuing to reduce its business dealings with Iran. Japan's Iranian crude imports in April were down 65.5% from a year earlier, at 118,450 barrels a day, according to government data.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”

Japan's Hybrid Ship for Hybrid Cars

The ship is expected to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 4 percent on a two-month voyage to Europe, officials said.

The 199-meter-long vessel can carry 6,400 passenger cars. The 768 solar power panels installed on its deck have an output capacity of 160 kilowatts, enough to power 50 average households.

Energy is stored in 324,000 lithium-ion batteries below decks and fed through to the engine. Excess energy is used to power the ship’s radar instruments, lighting, air conditioning and other equipment.

The Emerald Ace shuts down its diesel engine and relies totally on batteries when in port. It is the first ship in the world to produce zero emissions while not at sea, according to shipowner Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd.

Panasonic Corp. developed the system that integrates the solar panels with the ship's batteries.

Rechargeable batteries were supposed to keep trash out of landfills. Instead they replaced old garbage with new. Consumers throw away billions of battery chargers every year; cellphone chargers alone account for almost 100,000 tons of trash annually. And as discarded chargers sit in landfills, they bleed toxins like mercury and lead. That cycle is about to end. Wireless charging will soon be compatible with many of today’s mobile devices, providing a universal, more eco-friendly way to power up.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Human Spare Parts

Antonio
Medina saw his wife dead on a table, her chest wide open, and her heart and
lungs were missing. That was how a Central American migrant and his wife ended
up after being kidnapped by a gang of organ snatchers while the couple were en
route to the United States in search of greener pastures. In the Sinai desert,
refugees from Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea who are attempting to reach Israel
are being snatched by Bedouin tribes only to become unwilling organ donors on
demand. Crooked doctors from Cairo would call in to ask for availability of
body parts and if a qualified helpless “donor” is on hand, a mobile clinic will
be set up somewhere in the desert and an unfortunate refugee will be operated
on and then dumped for dead. As one Bedouin chief put it, “It’s like spare
parts for a car. The doctors come with some sort of mobile fridge where the
organs can be stored for six to eight hours and resold in Cairo or elsewhere.”
In China, the organs of an executed prisoner are sold to the highest bidder by
unscrupulous government personnel. Organ harvesting is taking place in the
Philippines, Turkey, Iran, Czech Republic, Georgia, Pakistan, India, Mozambique
and South Africa where surgeons remove kidneys, lungs, liver, corneas, bones,
tendons, heart valves, skin and other human parts and then transported to the
United States, Germany, Scandinavia, United Kingdom, Israel and other rich
countries for distribution. Due to the shortage of willing and legitimate organ
donors, this business of stealing a person’s organs for the sake of money has become
more profitable than human smuggling or even drug trafficking.

Seafaring is undoubtedly one of the most sought after profession nowadays. With the promise of financial stability plus the opportunity to travel, meet different people and learn different cultures, young men and even women trooped to different maritime schools to enroll in the various maritime courses. I have been teaching at Enverga University since 1997 and never did I experience such dramatic increase in our enrollment. It is quite overwhelming to learn that our department contributed the highest percentage of increase in enrollment in the university. Probably because of the fact that unlike Nursing, the Maritime Profession provides endless or shall I say better possibilities. There might be other courses promising a good future but nevertheless, seafaring remains to be as attractive as ever.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

One of oil’s most important characteristics is its fungibility, which means that a barrel of refined oil from Texas is equivalent to one from Saudi Arabia or Nigeria or anywhere else in the world. The global oil machine is built upon this premise – tankers take oil wherever it is needed, and one country pays almost the same as the next for this valuable commodity.

Well, that’s true aside from two factors that can render this equivalency void. In fact, crude oil prices range a fair bit according to the quality of the crude and the challenge of moving it from wellhead to refinery. Those factors are currently wreaking havoc on oil prices in North America: a range of oil qualities and a raft of infrastructure issues are creating record price differentials. And with no solution in sight, we think those differentials are here to stay.

What you see in old romantic movies just doesn't happen very often today. Even though it is believed to be a regular event, wedding at sea are a rarity. A ship's captain generally does NOT have the legal right to perform a wedding at sea.

Japanese ships allow Captains to perform a marriage ceremony at sea, but only if the couple have valid Japanese passport. In Bermuda, most of the Princess captains have Bermuda licenses to perform weddings, captains onboard Princess Cruise's may perform weddings aboard ship and at sea. Note that couples in Bermuda must be 21 and have picture identification showing proof of age.

In the Philippines, the ship's captain can solemnized marriage only in "articulo mortis" or when both of the parties are at the point of death without the necessity of a marriage license and shall remain valid even if the ailing party subsequently survives.

If a marriage in articulo mortis occurs inside a ship between passengers or crew members, the same may be solemnized by a ship captain not only while the ship is at sea, but also during stopovers at ports of call. In this case, what is considered important is not the place or location, but the wish of the parties to get married before one or both of them kicks the bucket.

Children
need to begin asserting control and power over the environment. Success in
this stage leads to a sense of purpose. Children who try to exert too much
power experience disapproval, resulting in a sense of guilt.

Adults
need to create or nurture things that will outlast them, often by having
children or creating a positive change that benefits other people. Success
leads to feelings of usefulness and accomplishment, while failure results in
shallow involvement in the world.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

A US captain who grounded his tug off Alaska while playing computer games has been sentenced to six months of home confinement. Ronald Monsen, 63, admitted he had been checking email and playing Hearts on a computer when the 538-gt Pathfinder (built 1970) hit PrinceWilliam Sound's Bligh Reef in 2009,previously the scene of the Exxon Valdez spill.

Pathfinder, owned by Crowley Marine Services, spilled about 6,400 gallons of diesel fuel.Monsen was charged with violating a federal clean water law.

Following the home confinement, he will spend another 30 months on probation. He will also pay a $15,000 fine and complete 50 hours of community service.

Monday, June 18, 2012

In an exclusive interview with Professional Mariner, two top officials of the Finnish engine maker Wärtsilä discuss the forces that are shaping the design of marine propulsion engines. Wärtsilä CEO Bjorn Rosengren and John Hatley, the company's American vice president ship power, describe how environmental regulations are playing a central role in engine design. One of the key trends is the development of engines that can burn natural gas as well as marine diesel fuel. Natural gas is both clean burning and increasingly abundant, they say, as a result of exploitation of huge reserves of shale gas in the United States.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

A Chinese cruise vessel, recently built hit a suspension bridge because of miscalculation. The bridge on the river Oujiang in Wenzhou city, Zhejiang was too short for the ship who just departed from the shipyard. The newly-built US $44 million “Mingzhu No. 7″ passenger vessel struck the bottom of the bridge 6 days ago shearing off 2 of the ships funnels and causing some damage to the bridge.

The master of the vessel has admitted that he had make miscalculation for the bridge, the lack of passengers and cargo made the ship taller.

Building a 1,000 passenger passenger ship didn't have people at the time of the accident.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Taken

“I don’t know who you
are. I don’t know what you want. But if you don’t let my daughter go, I will
find you… I will kill you.”Calm and
determined, that was how former intelligence operative Bryan Mills (played by Liam
Neeson, Taken [2009], 20th Century Fox) addressed his teenage daughter’s
abductor in Paris. Sex slavery and child prostitution is an international
problem and according to the UN, children are “kidnapped, trafficked across
borders or from rural to urban areas, and moved from place to place so that
they effectively disappear.” The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act (RA 9208)
was passed way back in 2003 and yet, a BBC investigation reported that there
could be as many as 100,000 Filipino children involved in the sex trade today.
From the Philippines, the young girls are forcibly transported by organized
crime syndicates to North America, Europe, various parts of Asia and the Middle
East. After being forced
to service several clients, 13 year old Sharon said, “My back ached and I
bled. I tried to run away but the guard at the door blocked my way and pushed
me back into the room. I cried and cried all night.”Occasionally,
the kidnappers would even make video tapes of children while being sexually
abused. According to Cecilia Flores Oebande of the Visayan Forum Foundation,
child trafficking “is next to drugs and arms smuggling, the second most
profitable business here in the Philippines.”

JUST FOUND OUT TITANIC REALLY HAPPENED! The tweeters who thought world's famous shipwreck was just a film

By: Daily Mail Reporter (published 15 April 2012)

As the world commemorates the centenary of the Titanic's sinking, thousands of people have taken to the internet to discuss the historic anniversary. A number of tweeters have used the micro-blogging site to confess that they are unaware that the Titanic was a real ship.

RMS Titanic sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912, after being struck by an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.

But for many of the younger generation, the ship is more familiar from the 1997 film about its demise starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio.

It seems that several fans of the movie failed to grasp that it was based on true story albieit with invented characters.

At around the age of seven there is a growth spurt in human brain development. This is mainly in the left hemisphere, which gives us entry into the world of intellect, logic and reasoning.

From 15 to the mid-20s, an area known as the prefrontal lobes begin to develop and function. We now know that these areas are involved in future planning and long-term risk assessment.

SO WHAT?

The implications of this knowledge in relation to decision making in adolescents is enormous. Firstly, we shouldn't expect young children to make rational decisions. They simply don't have the hardware. It's not until sometime after seven do they begin to do abstract thinking, because at this stage the hardware that does abstract thinking becomes prominent.

If your teenager has ever done something you consider stupid, and your reaction was 'What were they thinking?' Well, the answer is they were thinking about doing that thing and the associated pleasure. They were not thinking long-term, nor considering the risks. Again, the hardware, the prefrontal lobes, simply isn't functioning yet in a way that allows them to consider the long-term consequences of their actions.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

The House of Lords EU sub-committee on external affairs’ follow-up inquiry on Somali piracy will open tomorrow, taking evidence from witnesses including Minister of State for the Armed Forces Nick Harvey and Royal Navy captain DavidReindorp.The committee published a report, Combating Somali Piracy: the EU’s Naval Operation Atalanta, in April 2010.It called for both a “more robust approach to be taken to prosecution and punishment of pirates as well as more effort to tackle the root causes of extreme poverty in Somalia in order to change the perceived risk or reward ratio for potential pirates”.The committee plans to quiz Mr Harvey and Capt Reindorp on the UK’s contribution to Operation Atalanta and about thecontribution of other European Union member states. It will also examine the success of new procedures such as stationing armed guards on board commercial vessels.Other witnesses will be quizzed about the situation in Somalia and about progress in prosecuting captured pirates.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

PIRATES have released Greek chemical tanker Liquid Velvet and its 21 Filipino crew members after six months of captivity, the Department of Foreign Affairs in the Philippines confirmed today... (click on the link to continue news)

Before going any further into the
discussion on seapower, I think there’s a need to point out some important
ideas or facts concerning the sea.And the best wayto do it is to share some ideas on the historical attributes of the
sea.

The sea as we know it is global,
unowned and unownbale, opaque and hostile.But despite of these characteristics, the sea always have been an area
of dominion, an environment, a resources, a means of transportation, and a means
of exchanging culture.And these facts
are very true in the Philippines.

In the Philippines alone, almost
75% of our territory or dominion is covered with water.Over the past centuries, sea has been the
barometer of life and will continue to be so as the determinant of the future.With the observance of physiological changes
of the sea we can easily determine changes in Philippine climate.

The conflict in West Philippine
Sea is caused by the possible discovery of natural gas or oil in the area.Sea foods as a source of protein are also abundant
in the area.Also, if we want to visit
the Philippines tourist hot spots and share others cultures, you should travel by sea.

Three years ago, Maersk Alabama was sailing too close to the
pirate-infested shore of Somalia when it was attacked by Somali pirates who
took as their hostage the ship’s skipper Captain Richard Phillips. The incident
ended through the intervention of the elite US Navy Seals who shot dead three
pirates resulting in the release of Captain Phillips. This 2009 maritime drama
is the subject of Phillips’ book entitled “A Captain’s Duty” of which a movie
starring Tom Hanks will be made. Apparently, the hero of the story is Phillips
himself but if the crew members were to be believed, it was Phillips who put
them all at risk. According to them, Phillips repeatedly ignored warnings about
pirate activity and sailed too close to the forbidden waters. Hence, the crew
members are now engaged in a real life mutiny - a legal mutiny. They claim that
their lives were endangered by the Ship Captain, the official representative of
the Ship Owner. Eleven out of twenty crew members are seeking $50 million in
damages and according to their lawyer Deborah Waters, “ Phillips and Mersk put
the men in harm’s way, in spite of warnings to keep them out of the
pirate-infested waters. They did so for financial gain.”

Thursday, June 7, 2012

The types of illegal recruitment under the Labor Code are the following:

1. Simple illegal recruitment
2. Illegal recruitment considered as an offense involving economic sabotage which can be further classified to:

a. Illegal recruitment committed by a syndicate;
b. Illegal recruitment committed in a large scale.

Simple illegal recruitment or illegal recruitment covers any recruitment activity by non-licenses or non-holders of authority. It includes the commission of prohibited practices by licenses or holders of authority.

Illegal recruitment when committed by a syndicate or in large scale shall be considered an offense involving economic sabotage. Illegal recruitment is committed by a syndicate when it is committed by a group of three (3) or more persons conspiring or confederating with one another. Illegal recruitment is committed in a large scale if committed against three (3) or more persons.

Fiery ice is the fuel of the future IT IS called the fuel of the future, or “fiery ice” by some experts, and studies show that Japan has loads of it under its southern waters. Put at its most basic, methane hydrate is methane locked in ice, hence the name “fiery ice”. It is formed at low temperature and high pressure and found in sediment on the ocean floor.Methane, the primary component of natural gas, can be used in power plants to generate electricity. As the world’s biggest importer of liquefied natural gas, Japan is eager to develop its own energy, hence its interest in the methane hydrate deposits in its southern waters.Although it has not yet reached commercial development, enough research is being undertaken by Japanese organizations to suggest that the country is serious about developing methane hydrate as an energy source.There is no consensus on when this could become commercially viable, with most experts simply saying it will take years.Nevertheless, the rapid development of the shale gas industry in the US shows that technology can speed up these programs and take everyone by surprise.

For about four decades now, prostituted women have climbed ships docked at the ports of Davao. These women are called akyat barko girls, which means ship-climbing girls.

Talikala, an organization in Davao that gives support, advice, training and counseling to women and girls forced into the sex trade, estimates that there are between 300 and 400 akyat barko girls, most of them with only high school or elementary education and ages ranging from 13 to 26.

Last November, a group of journalists went to Barangay Parola, a community near the Sasa Wharf, Davao International Port to interview akyat barko girls. The journalists who participated in a multimedia workshop conducted by VERA Files and supported by the Canadian Embassy tell the stories of the akyat barko girls in sounds and images.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Corp. will hire 24,000 more Filipino workers for its Subic and Misamis Oriental plants, the government announced on Tuesday.

At present, Hanjin Philippines Inc., the corporation’s main office in the Philippines, employs 16,000 workers.

During a meeting with Hanjin Philippines President Jong Shup Shim, President Gloria Arroyo lauded the company’s billion-dollar investment in its Subic shipyard, and the additional multi-billion investment in a new facility in Misamis Oriental, which would make the Philippines the fourth-largest shipbuilder in the world.

Jong later told reporters that starting September, Hanjin would begin local production of ship components that they normally import from South Korea for the assembly of work at Subic.

Jong estimated that the company would be able to manufacture $29-million worth of locally produced components for the first year, and he expressed confidence that this amount would increase to $57 million next year.

Jong said the company would make the ships produced at the Hanjin shipyard in Subic, entirely and proudly, Philippine-made.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

E. coli or full name Escherichia coli is a bacterium commonly found in the gut of humans and warm-blooded animals. Most strains are harmless to us but some, such as enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), can cause serious illness.

Why are people catching E.coli?

E.coli is transmitted to humans mostly through food, including raw or undercooked ground meat products and milk.

Faecal contamination of water and other foods, as well as cross-contamination during food preparation (with beef and other meat products, contaminated surfaces and kitchen utensils), will also lead to infection.

An increasing number of outbreaks have been linked with eating fruit and vegetables (such as sprouts, lettuce, coleslaw and salad). In these cases, contamination occurs due to contact with animal faeces.

Friday, June 1, 2012

The Solar Impulse HB-SIA prototype aircraft, which has 12,000 solar cells built into its 64.3 metres (193 feet) wings, attempted its first intercontinental flight from Payerne to Rabat in Morocco.After a flight lasting approximately 17 hours, the HB-SIA prototype has finally landed in Madrid-Barajas airport. The pilot, André Borschberg, made his way out of the cockpit, smiley and certainly happy to stretch his legs. Read on...

As mentioned last week, seapower
is the sum of a nation’s capabilities to utilize the sea for political,
economic, and military use to achieve national interest in peace or in war.Now, what are these elements or sources that
constitute seapower?Based from Sir
Alfred Thayer Mahan, a contemporary naval strategist, these capabilities are as
follows:

a.maritime community – citizens have the affinity to
maritime (sea) life or must be a seafaring nation.

b.resources – countries business and economic
agenda are towards maritime.

c.style of government – fondness to maritime laws
and policies.

d.geography – strategically located in a maritime region.
Also, a coastal state.

e.merchant fleet – must have a strong and able merchant
ships that could be called anytime they are needed.

f.bases – ports and harbours are essential for
logistics

g.fighting instruments – strong and capable navy.

Recently, Geoffrey Till, a modern naval strategist, has
added technology as an indispensable instrument of seapower.

By looking at these instruments, could we consider the
Philippines as a seapower nation?Where
thus our strength lies? Which of these instruments do you think is our weakest link?